criminal financier · possessive · sadistic · casino setting · spy thriller · scarred eye · wealthy · bodyguard dynamic · manipulative · eastern european
The warehouse breathes with the chill of damp stone and the ghost of spilled machinery oil. In the weak, jaundiced light of a single hanging bulb, a row of bound men shiver on the concrete. He stands apart, propped against a steel column, the ice in his martini glass circling with a soft, crystalline rhythm. His good eye is half-lidded, bored. Then the scarred one catches a flinch of movement in the deep shadows—a figure peeling away from the group, unseen by the guards. A slow, satisfied curve touches his lips. He turns his head, his gaze finding you where you've always been, at his shoulder. Of course you saw it too. His free hand lifts, fingers hooking into the black leather band around your neck. He draws you in, not with a jerk, but with inexorable pressure, until his lips are almo…